**Service Update – Severe Weather Impacting ATSILS Services**
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**Service Update – Severe Weather Impacting ATSILS Services**

Flooding caused by ex-Tropical Cyclone Alfred is disrupting the operations of several ATSILS offices and Queensland Courts across the Southeast Queensland and Wide Bay regions. Our Hervey Bay office is closed today, and other locations in flood-affected areas may also temporarily shut down to prioritize the safety of our clients and staff.
Rest assured, legal assistance is still available! Our dedicated statewide network of officers is here to support you. If you need help or have any questions, please don’t hesitate to contact us at our toll-free number: 1800 012 255.
QLD Courts
Coolangatta Magistrates Court remains closed. Hervey Bay Magistrates Court will also be closed on Monday 10 March 2025 and urgent matters will be heard in Maroochydore Magistrates Court. All other matters will be administratively adjourned.
Caloundra, Maroochydore, Nambour, Noosa, Gatton and Gympie magistrates courts will re-open on Monday 10 March 2025 and resume full operations.
Please see Magistrates Court Practice Direction 7 of 2025 and severe weather arrangements issued by the Chief Magistrate for further information.
Stay safe and take care during these challenging times!
Engaging with police recruits to enhance understanding of services and communities
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Engaging with police recruits to enhance understanding of services and communities

ATSILS @ QPS Market Day 


On 20 November 2024, ATSILS Brisbane’s CLE team attended the Queensland Police Academy Market Day. This event invites various agencies, organisations, and QPS units to the Queensland Police Service Academy to showcase their services and how they might be relevant to recruits’ future policing duties. ATSILS had a stall at this event alongside the deadly team at Murri Watch Aboriginal & Torres Strait Islander Corporation.

Close to 900 current police recruits attended this event and had the opportunity to engage with our stall and ask questions about what ATSILS does. Many police recruits stopped by and advised that they were already aware of ATSILS, as part of their training included information about the obligation on police officers to facilitate a call to ATSILS in the event of an arrest of an individual who identifies as an Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait Islander so that the individual can have access to legal advice at that critical stage.

There were many productive conversations with police recruits about the importance of cultural training and understanding to give pause and consideration of the impact of intergenerational trauma, other challenges that an individual at risk of being in contact with the criminal justice system might have and their story. There were also many discussions about the importance of diversion away from the criminal justice system to allow a pathway to addressing key needs and providing key supports to those at risk. Some recruits were not aware of the policy work that ATSILS does with respect to Closing the Gap, prevention and early intervention and the delivery of community legal education and it was great to be able to share that information as well.

Court Link Rockhampton
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Court Link Rockhampton

Members of the ATSILS Rockhampton team attended the official launch of the Court Link initiative that kicked off this week in Central Queensland.

Aunty Niki Hatfield performed the Welcome To Country and enlightened the audience about why such is important to First Nations peoples. The Court Link Team gave great insight into the initiative which is to give participants acute support while on bail and navigating the judicial system.

We are excited to see the initiative begin in Rockhampton, noting our office has already referred one participant on the second day of its operation.

Thanks to the Court Link team for providing great insight, a lovely lunch, and congratulations on a successful launch.

Helping Deadly Young Mob in Cairns “Get Work Ready”.
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Helping Deadly Young Mob in Cairns “Get Work Ready”.

Once again our team in Cairns delivered the “Get Work Ready” community legal education workshop to IYMP (Cairns) students. The students are completing their final month of study, and this workshop helps prepare them for a successful entry into the workforce by providing timely information on their work rights, how to deal with employment disputes and the array of support organisations available to assist them on their career path.

The students were highly engaged in the session and left feeling equipped to approach the working world confidently. Congratulations to the students who have completed their certificates and all the best for a bright future in the workforce.

Assisting our most remote clients in Far NW QLD
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Assisting our most remote clients in Far NW QLD

Last week, ATSILS mobile legal practitioner Kevin Amantea undertook the remote court circuit in the Gulf country to assist clients and to help ensure our most remote communities have access to justice. Kevin said, ‘I enjoyed traveling to the Northwest QLD region of the Gulf of Carpentaria for work…. It was one of the most rewarding and challenging experiences of my legal career.

ATSILS currently employs two mobile legal practitioners as part of our innovative and agile workforce. Our highly experienced mobile legal practitioners travel far and wide across Queensland to assist with service delivery continuity and demand. They can be deployed to targeted regions to enable ATSILS to be more responsive to the legal needs of a community.

View our current Job Vacancies
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View our current Job Vacancies

ATSILS - Legal Job VacanciesWork with the team advancing and protecting the rights of Mob in Queensland!
We have multiple positions available for Legal Practitioners (Criminal, Family & Civil)!
We are also currently seeking 2 x Throughcare Officers (Youth & Adult Male DV), 1 x Legal Secretary (Admin), 1x Court Support Officer (Identified Position).
View our job vacancies page for more information:
Which Way – Community Legal Education Resources
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Which Way – Community Legal Education Resources

ATSILS teamed up with the members of the Queensland Legal Assistance Forum to produce a range of community legal education resources under the banner: Which Way – Protect Your Legal Rights!

The suite of resources was developed by First Nations Creative Agency – Gilimbaa and with key messaging aimed at enhancing community access to legal assistance options for domestic violence and child safety matters.

The resources were launched this week by our Director of Communications and Sector Engagement – Graham White and will be distributed throughout our partner networks to get the key messages out to our communities.

We thank the Queensland Government – Department of Justice and Attorney General for assisting in funding the project and all partners for their contributions.

 

Which Way – Protect Your Legal Rights!

We have a range of posters we would like to distribute throughout our partner networks to ensure our communities know there are a range of legal assistance providers available to assist them with Child Safety and Domestic Violence matters. If you would like a copy of the posters below please email: joshua.herd@atsils.org.au. 

Alternatively, you are welcome to download and print a PDF version using the links below.

 

Download Posters [PDF]

Which Way – Legal Assistance for Child Safety Matters

Which Way – Legal Assistance for Domestic Violence Matters (Victim/Survivor)

Which Way – Legal Assistance for Domestic Violence Matters (Respondent)

 

Download/Share Videos

ATSILS Rockhampton
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ATSILS Rockhampton

Recently our Director of Sector Engagement and Communication – Graham White visited our regional office in Rockhampton to touch base with staff and key stakeholders in the justice sector.

It was a good opportunity for the team to share their local stories and challenges for service delivery in the region. Graham also met the local Youth Justice Service Centre and key NGOs critical to ATSILS service delivery. The feedback from these organisations was very positive in relation to their engagement work and dealings with the ATSILS in Rockhampton.

Our Rockhampton office delivers family, civil and criminal law services as well as Throughcare services to local Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander communities in the Central Queensland region.

ATSILS is available Freecall 24/7 for urgent criminal law matters on 1800 012 255.

Great to meet with ‘Elders for Change’ in Townsville.
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Great to meet with ‘Elders for Change’ in Townsville.

CEO Shane Duffy, & Director of Communications and Sector Engagement Graham White traveled to Townsville last week to meet with local elders around opportunities for collaboration on grassroots community-led justice reinvestment (Justice Galbidera Way) initiatives to help Close the Gap. The team gave insight into the ATSILS run Throughcare program, Blue Card reforms and discussed opportunities for advocacy.

It was great to connect and share knowledge and we look forward to further engagement in the future.

Phone Outages – Townsville: Monday – 23/10
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Phone Outages – Townsville: Monday – 23/10

Our Townsville Office will be undergoing system upgrades on Monday 23rd October from 12pm until COB and during this time we’ll be experiencing telecommunications outages.
We apologise for any inconvenience and ask clients to call back Tuesday morning.

For urgent matters during this time please call:
3025 3888